PORT ARANSAS, Texas — Jacob Bruwster and Gilbert Quiroj came all the way from Laredo to Port Aransas to enjoy Spring Break this week.
“It’s like a recommended place from a lot of people that we know and they say it’s like a really fun place to hangout,” Quiroj said.
They said last week they went to South Padre Island where there were a lot of activities going on. They said this week they wanted to keep it more low-key in Port Aransas.
“Everyone’s fun….no one’s here to cause problems. Everyone’s here to have a good time,” Bruwster said.
The Quale Family came all the way from the Dallas-Fort Worth area and has been coming to Port Aransas for about 20 years. They said they’re not too worried about college kids getting rowdy.
“Certainly the college kids have their areas down on the beach and you kind of know where they’re at, and you kind of stick to where your family areas are because there’s a great blend of a great destination from that standpoint,” Nathan Quale said.
Brett Stawar, the president and CEO of the Port Aransas Tourism Bureau and Chamber of Commerce, said about 70% of tourists during Spring Break are families and about 30% are college students.
He said there wasn’t as much hotel revenue in 2020 at the start of the pandemic, but in 2021 they more than doubled the revenue.
He said the amount of tourists coming to Port Aransas is increasing because there’s more places to stay compared to five years ago.
“A lot of folks are buying second homes in Port Aransas, a lot of people are buying rental investment properties in Port Aransas, and that just continues to grow,” Stawar said.
Stawar said this year Spring Break is mostly just this week for a lot of schools, compared to recent years where it’s been split into two weeks. That’s why they’re seeing most of their visitors this week.
Chris Collins is the owner of Tortuga’s and a few other restaurants in Port Aransas. He said he’s also noticing more tourists coming this week.
“We’re having great numbers for spring break this year, but last year, you still had a lot of people working from home and kids doing school from home, so it was kind of like spring Break never ended,” Collins said.
